An interesting tale narrating the lives to two twin sisters from Aberdeen who marry two friends just before World War One, one Russian and one Latvian, tracing their lives and those of their descendants over the next few decades. Ranging across the trials and tribulations of their lives in Scotland, Latvia and St Petersburg through the traumas on both world wars and the Russian revolution and its aftermath, the storytelling benefits from the books relative brevity (given its major scope). Interesting, particularly perhaps as I have relatives on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain (albeit in Rumania) who I only met once, very briefly, over 3 decades ago. ( )